QUICK HIT - Mac and Mary Owen open up their lives to their readers—all the hurts, all the pain, all the sin, all the suffering. But in doing so, they are able to point to the God who restores, redeems, and heals. A powerful, real life story that proves that God is never far away.

I’ve been a Travis Thrasher fan for a long time and have followed him in and out of genres—horror, love story, novelization, adventure, suspense, whatever. He has a way of making stories come to life so that they seem real. So when I heard he was working with Mac and Mary Owen on a biography of their life, I was exceptionally curious how he’d handle a real life story. The answer, of course, is exceptionally.

Mac and Mary’s story begins in May of 1974 when they were in high school. Love is in the air and soon Mary’s good Christian sensibilities are rocked by Mac’s more hard-partying nature. It didn’t take long before the two succumbed to temptation and Mary found herself pregnant. She tried to hide it at first, but that could only last for so long. The two give up the baby for adoption, convinced they’re doing the right thing but still saddened by their loss.

Eventually they marry and begin to build a life together, but the fun-loving and hard-partying Mac has taken a dive off the deep end into drug addiction. Before long, he’s shooting up meth and mostly oblivious to the world around him. But life continues on, and the story is told from both Mac and Mary’s perspectives as they try to cope with life.

But God’s plans are wonderful. Mac decides to turn his life around and recovery begins right in their church, launching a miraculous journey neither of them could have expected. Mac, the former addict, becomes one calling others out of addiction. Soon, their influence grows beyond their church and they join with Celebrate Recovery to tell their story and spread their message.

There are things I won’t say about the book for fear of spoiling the story, but just let me say there are twists that no fiction author could have imagined. Their story is truly one written by a Grand Storyteller who lovingly called and knocked and pleaded until they finally answered. It’s more than a story about recovery from drug addiction, it’s also a story about turning evil into good, past sins into a future ministry, and the miraculous power of God to bring families back together. Make no mistake, you will be left in tears. Both tears of empathy through the pain and tears of joy through the recovery. Never Let Go is an absolutely amazing story written by an absolutely amazing Storyteller.